What people are buying after trading in their clunkers — small cars rule the day.

It’s kind of eye-opening — in a piece printed in The Chronicle, the Associated Press reported the other day that the top 10 vehicles people are buying after getting rid of their gas-guzzling clunker SUVs and pickups are uniformly from the ranks of small cars.

Economics is clearly ruling the day and so are the Japanese auto makers. Of those top 10, seven vehicles have Japanese name plates. Three of the cars are made by Toyota, three by Honda, one by Nissan. The only other makers on the list are Ford (two cars) and Hyundai.

The list:

1. Toyota Corolla

2. Honda Civic

3. Ford Focus

4. Toyota Camry

5. Toyota Prius

6. Hyundai Elantra

7. Ford Escape (front-wheel-drive)

8. Honda Fit

9. Nissan Versa

10. Honda CR-V (four-wheel-drive)

The list speaks volumes about the current buying trends of the American driver. First, it’s clear that buyers are fed up with getting poor gas mileage (the cars on the list are all gas-miserly four-bangers, with options for a six-cylinder in the Ford Escape and Toyota Camry, and there’s one hybrid, the Toyota Prius.)

Second, it shows that, for now, at least, the car buyer is avoiding General Motors and Chrysler products (coincidentally, these are the two big auto makers that had to file for bankruptcy protection earlier this year). Only one domestic manufacturer made the list — Ford.

You can read into this list whatever you like, but the fact is that more than 400,000 clunkers were traded in for small, economical cars. Bigger cars lost out; even such popular autos as the Honda Accord, Chevrolet Impala and Hyundai Sonata didn’t make the cut.